The recent National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS ) survey found that 40.1% – 82.9 million – Nigerians are living in poverty with the national poverty line estimated at ₦137,430 per year [PDF] .
A further disaggregation shows that the population in rural and urban areas living in poverty are 52.1% and 18% respectively.
On inequality, the report found that the national Gini coefficient was 35.1 while the coefficient for the rural and urban population are 32.8 and 31.9 respectively.
The level of inequality in Nigeria is comparable to that of in India (35.2) but significantly below countries like South Africa (62.5).
Based on the experiences of countries that have improved the living standard of a large proportion of their population, Nigeria will need to achieve sustained and high economic growth, substantial infrastructural development, provide large-scale structured and targeted poverty alleviation programmes alongside social development programmes.
